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Here, gathered in our beloved South Dakota, are a few members of our Williamson / Mattson Clan. Charles and Luella are to be blamed (be kind, they didn't know what they were doing). We're generally a happy bunch and somewhat intelligent (notwithstanding our tenuous grasp on reality). I'm also proud to say that most of us still have our teeth.

Saturday, July 31, 2010

General Henry Dearborn, Our 6th Great Uncle and United States Secretary of War

General Henry Dearborn. Painted When He Served asUnited States Secretary of War (Today's Defense Secretary)

From the Fortress of SolitudePleasant Grove

Dear Clan,This evening I’m delighted to introduce you to our 6th Great Uncle, Henry Dearborn (February 23, 1751 – June 6, 1829), a prominent man in American history. First, the Relationship Chart (Click to enlarge).

Trying to encapsulate the life of this great American in prose would take volumns. Instead, I’ve decided to list the main points of his life in a way easy to read. Here we go:

Henry Dearborn was a doctor.

He was a veteran of the Revolutionary War

He was a veteran of the War of 1812.

He organized a local militia troop of 60 men and fought at the Battle of Bunker Hill as a Captain.

He volunteered to serve under the traitor Benedict Arnold during the American Expedition to Quebec.

He was captured on Dec. 31, 1775 during the Battle of Quebec

He joined George Washington at Valley Forge as a Lt. Colonel.

He fought at the battles of Monmouth.

He was on the Sullivan Expedition against the Iroquois.

He joined Gen. George Washington’s Staff in 1781 as Deputy Quartermaster General with the rank of colonel.

He was present when the British Gen. Cornwallis surrendered after the Battle of Yorktown and the Revolutionary War ended.

He worked as a U.S. Marshal for Maine.

He was elected to Congress (1793-97)

In 1801 President Thomas Jefferson appointed him to his Cabinet as Secretary of War. He held this job for eight years. During this time he helped plan the removal of Indians beyond the Mississippi River.

He was appointed collector of the port of Boston by Pres. James Madison.

He was appointed senior Major General in the U.S. Army in command of the Northeast Sector from the Niagara River to the New England Coast.

During the war of 1812 he prepared plans for the attacks on Montreal, Kingston and Detroit.

President James Madison nominated Dearborn for reappointment as Secretary of War but the Senate rejected the nomination.

He was later appointed Ambassador to Portugal by Pres. James Monroe

Lewis and Clark named the Dearborn River in west central Montana after our uncle. Dearborn County Indiana, Dearborn Michigan and Dearborn Missouri were also named for him as was Fort Dearborn in Chicago. His son was a congressman in 1831-33.

1 comment:

Warning! Please Read On.

Tracing one's genealogy can be a tricky endeavor. Once you move past three or four generations, the information you discover on the internet may or may not be accurate. What you read on this blog represents the best I've found using Ancestry.com, The LDS Church's Family Search, and Google. Corrections are gladly welcome. Please send your information to AnAmericanDynasty@gmail.com

I'm interested in information on two family lines in particular.

I'm searching for our Vercellino family from Northern Italy and our Mattson /Tornberg family in Sweden. Again, you can reach me at AnAmericanDynasty@gmail.com